title: Geotechnical characteristics and stability analysis of rock-soil aggregate slope at the Gushui Hydropower Station, southwest China.
abstract: Two important features of the high slopes at Gushui Hydropower Station are layered accumulations (rock-soil aggregate) and multilevel toppling failures of plate rock masses; the Gendakan slope is selected for case study in this paper. Geological processes of the layered accumulation of rock and soil particles are carried out by the movement of water flow; the main reasons for the toppling failure of plate rock masses are the increasing weight of the upper rock-soil aggregate and mountain erosion by river water. Indoor triaxial compression test results show that, the cohesion and friction angle of the rock-soil aggregate decreased with the increasing water content; the cohesion and the friction angle for natural rock-soil aggregate are 57.7 kPa and 31.3° and 26.1 kPa and 29.1° for saturated rock-soil aggregate, respectively. The deformation and failure mechanism of the rock-soil aggregate slope is a progressive process, and local landslides will occur step by step. Three-dimensional limit equilibrium analysis results show that the minimum safety factor of Gendakan slope is 0.953 when the rock-soil aggregate is saturated, and small scale of landslide will happen at the lower slope.
authors.affiliation: State Key Laboratory of Hydraulics and Mountain River Engineering, Sichuan University, Chengdu, Sichuan 610065, China ; State Key Laboratory of Geohazard Prevention and Geoenvironment Protection, Chengdu University of Technology, Chengdu, Sichuan 610059, China.
authors.forename: Jia-wen
authors.initials: JW
authors.lastname: Zhou
authors.forename: Chong
authors.initials: C
authors.lastname: Shi
authors.forename: Fu-gang
authors.initials: FG
authors.lastname: Xu
mesh_terms: D002681:China; D003247:Conservation of Natural Resources / Q000379:methods*; D017753:Ecosystem; D012987:Soil
chemical_list: D012987:Soil